Former President of Pakistan Pervez Musharraf interviewed by Christopher Meyer

General Pervez Musharraf in conversation with Sir Christopher Meyer

29 Sep 2010

Speakers: Pervez Musharraf, Sir Christopher Meyer

Two days before Pervez Musharraf officially announced his desire to return to the Pakistani presidency, he spoke to Intelligence Squared’s London audience and came across – in all the positive aspects that can imply – as still very much an army man. He is disarmingly candid, as if addressing troops whom he knows he cannot hoodwink for long. Pakistan will stay on the West’s agenda for a long time to come, so if you want to start to understand the tensions in this complicated region, there is no better introduction than directly from the General’s mouth.

Why should we continue the fight in Afghanistan? Because the West, for its own protection, cannot afford to lose, and, “as long as we stay in Afghanistan, we may not be able to win, but we know we cannot lose.” Does this sound like a meal-ticket for life for the Pakistani military? Probably. But then, as the General and President reminds us, we have only ourselves to blame. Our three big mistakes in the region have been: 1) Not to offer Pakistan any sort of peace dividend after the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan in 1988; 2) Not to talk to Taliban leaders in the 1990s and split moderates and hard-liners and 3) Not to have put majority Pashtuns in charge of the Afghan government in 2002.

As befits a military man, Pervez Musharraf likes to attribute unsolved problems to faulty leadership. If only the right head emerges, with a combination of boldness, courage and decisiveness, problems can be solved. And when the right head does not emerge, the army sometimes finds it has to give a helping hand. This happened with his own “being given the country” in 1999 and could, he explains, happen again.

Speaker

Pervez Musharraf

Former President of Pakistan (2001-2008)

Chair

Sir Christopher Meyer

Former British Ambassador to the United States (1997-2003) & author of Getting Our Way: 500 Years of Adventure and Intrigue: the Inside Story of British Diplomacy